


And They Were Mates!

by CinnamonLily



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Actor Peter Hale, Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Bad Alpha Talia Hale, Human Alpha Stiles Stilinski, Implied Neglect, Knotting, M/M, Mates, Mating Bites, Mentioned Kate Argent, Mentioned Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Racism, Speciesism, The Hale Pack - Freeform, True Mates, Writer Stiles Stilinski, mentioned many other characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 23:31:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17069282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CinnamonLily/pseuds/CinnamonLily
Summary: They stepped inside and were immediately grabbed by Danny, their tech guy, who pulled them to the side of the hustle and bustle and looked at Stiles with a smirk on his face.“What?”“You know all those posters you had in your bedroom when we were in high school?” Danny asked, waggling his brows, the bastard.“Uh… yeah, it was my bedroom?”“Brace yourself.”ORThe fic where Stiles is a writer of Moon Mated, a TV show, and has had a burgeoning crush on an actor called Peter Hale for half his life. And of course Chris Argent, the show runner, hires Peter as the new character on the show. Oh, and Stiles and Peter are mates. Because of course they are.





	And They Were Mates!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [twothumbsandnostakeincanon (somanyofthekids)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/somanyofthekids/gifts).



> This one is for twothumbsandnostakeincanon. This isn't the story that first came to me (or that I asked you about on Tumblr,) but I still think you might (hopefully) enjoy it. Merry Happy WhateverYou'reCelebrating, dear, it was a little bit scary-like to write a gift fic for such a talented writer!

 

 

**Peter**

Peter glanced at his phone and smirked when he picked it up.

“Christopher, what do you want?” In the past, it would’ve been obvious, these days, not so much.

“I heard a rumor that makes me think we could give each other a hand,” Chris said in his sexy, sexy voice.

“Oh, well I suppose that could be appreciated,” Peter purred, despite knowing full well that wasn’t what Chris was after, this time.

He could almost hear the blood rushing into Chris’s cheeks, though, and the small clearing of throat made him preen a little.

“I heard about Decker,” he said finally.

Peter, having tried to ignore the fact that he’d lost a role of a lifetime because he was a wolf, felt his eyes flash.

“Unfortunate, but it happens.” He propped the phone between his ear and shoulder and poured himself two fingers of wolfsbane laced Scotch.

“I have a job for you, if you want it.”

“But I’ve heard some rumors as well, Christopher,” Peter admitted, feeling skeptical.

“And those are likely true. But we have half a season, and we’ll go out on a bang, I promise you.” Chris’s voice had taken on the passionate quality.

Peter sat in his armchair and looked at the view. His house sat on the Hollywood Hills, pretty much above Sunset Strip. “What did dear dad do this time?”

Chris was quiet for a while, and Peter could hear his teeth grinding together.

Then he spat out, “He tried to recruit Allison to his channel.”

Peter sat up. “Wait, he tried to get your daughter to turn anti-wolf?” That was a whole other deal. He knew there’d been some ideological differences between Chris and Gerard, especially after his sister Kate had been killed by a wolf at one of her protests, but this was a whole other deal.

“Oh yes. He promised to make her the heir and everything. He would love to turn her into Kate.”

“Allison is smarter than that.”

“Yes, she is, but he stepped over a line.”

Peter made an educated guess. “So now you’re using the power you have to make the last half a season of Moon Mated as bad for him as possible?”

“Well, I’ve hired more wolves for staff in general, and I’ve written a savior for the humans that’s a wolf, and I want a great actor for the role. Now, Gerard would prefer I’d have a human with contact lenses and makeup, but why go through all that trouble….” Chris trailed off almost gleefully.

“You want it to be an actual wolf. I see….”

“I’d also like it to be someone who can actually, you know, _act_. I’m just happy we had a writer who found a way to write out Julia and Greenberg last season.”

Peter laughed. “Yeah, they were… not good.”

“So will you? Let my show end on a high note, piss off Gerard to no end, and spend the summer in Montana?”

Peter didn’t ask about what he’d be paid. Christopher was fair with money. Did he want to do this? Well, it would bring him some satisfaction to make Chris’s show better and, he could admit that much, give Gerard Argent one big fat middle finger.

“Alright. When do you need me there?”

“Next Monday, bright and early, if you can. I’ll introduce the character to the rest of the writers. They have an idea what’s going on, especially the one who has been writing with me, but not the exact scale of it, and they’ll have to work their asses off, but I have good people. They don’t know who I’d planned for the role, either. So that sound be interesting, too.”

Peter hummed. “Sounds like a fun summer. Send me everything I need as soon as you can, and I’ll be there next week.”

“Excellent.” Peter expected him to say bye, but instead, he got a quiet, very sincere, “Thank you, Peter.”

“Of course.” Peter ended the call.

He’d miss his view.

Then he remembered he would have to tell his sister he would leave California for the summer.

Peter groaned, tossed back the rest of his Scotch, and dialed Talia’s number.

  
~*~  


**Stiles**

Stiles blinked blearily at his small TV and tried to drink his coffee and eat his cereal. If there was one thing he didn’t enjoy about his career, it was the very, very early mornings.

The fact that he had a not-so-crappy trailer all for himself at the set was definitely a plus though.

The news was just the same as always. War here, Kardashians there, werewolf pack being relocated to a safer state, the president tweeted something stupid again, it was… well, as per usual.

A pounding on his door startled him, and he sloshed some coffee onto his lap. At least it wasn’t that hot anymore.

“Stiles?”

“Come on in, it’s open!” He frowned at his mug when Allison bounced in.

“Oh no, do you need a refill?” she asked, immediately seeing the coffee stain on his sweats.

“Do we have time?” He blinked at her, still not quite awake.

“It’s Monday morning, of course we don’t have time!” Her enthusiasm was even more enthusiastic than usual, so Stiles dug his memory to figure out if he was missing something.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s the surprise day! The guy you’ve been writing with Dad!” She already moved to his coffee maker and frowned at it. Then she refilled the thing and put it back on while Stiles still gathered his wits.

“The actor will be here to read?” Stiles finally got it. “Who is it?”

“I don’t know, but apparently someone Dad knows from way back.”

“Knowing Chris, it could be anyone.” Stiles got to his feet. “Okay, you make me coffee and—”

“Put it in the travel mug while you go get less messy and more dressed, yes.” She beamed at him, and he kissed her cheek in passing.

“I adore you, Miss Argent.”

“You’re not so bad either, Mr. Stilinski.”

They’d been friends ever since they met at college. She’d briefly dated Stiles’s roommate Scott who had to drop out when some random werewolf turned him while he was at a frat house party or something like that. Then again, Stiles later heard that the dumbass had followed a much-too-pretty girl into the shed out back. _While_ he was dating Allison, who was honestly one of the most beautiful and probably the smartest woman Stiles had ever met. Getting wolfed against his will was the least of what Scott deserved.

Stiles hadn’t hated the guy before simple as he’d been, but he was very black and white, and very anti-wolf, so being one must be fun for him now. Not that Stiles cared. He’d gotten Allison out of the deal, and through her, his writing had caught her father’s eye, and suddenly there he was, working for Hunter’s Moon Studios, a subsidiary of Argent Inc.

This job, writing for the show, was a dream come true. But the fact that he’d managed to go through the ranks of writers, watching others fall on the way, was still a “pinch himself” moment. That feeling had intensified when a few months ago, Chris had told him he wanted Stiles’s help with writing in a new character for the latter part of the season.

He didn’t know exact details because Chris had been very secretive, but he knew that the character was a wolf who would lead the human cast out of the bind they were in by the time he’d appear.

Stiles showered quickly and got dressed in his better jeans and a new-ish T-shirt, then threw an actual button-down shirt on top instead of his usual plaid. His hair was… a mess, but it didn’t look too bad, so he’d let it be for now.

When he emerged from his bedroom, Allison was just filling his travel mug to his specifications and had obviously been filling another one with hot water and her favorite tea. He could see the tea bag tags hanging over the seam in the mug and smiled. It had been a great idea to have her tea in his trailer too.

He pulled on his Chucks, grabbed his mug, and followed Allison out of the trailer.

She worked as a fact-checker, writer, and sometimes a PA for her dad. She was a Jill of all trades, and Stiles wasn’t sure things would run as smoothly without her.

The morning was gorgeous. It was late spring in Montana, near the mountains with the set both on the said mountains and on a ranch half a mile away. The trailer park for the staff was somewhere in between, a bit closer to the mountain sets, because that’s where they’d be shooting for the early part of the summer.

Indoor shooting was already going on at the studios built on the ranch, but there was a long way to go before the season would be wrapped.

They walked toward the large barn that had once been alone in the middle of the fields but was now next to the trailers with a constant hum of ATVs and bigger vehicles parking around it, people going in and out, right until the large red light above the main entrance lit. That meant it was reading time, and everyone better be quiet or else.

The barn itself had been refurbished to have office space in the old hay loft—that was Chris’s domain—and the barn itself had been divided into the big conference room where they read and a smaller writers workroom.

Most of the makeup and stuff happened in various trailers all over the place, depending on which crew was working on what and where. It was a big production, this was the fifth season of Mated, and Stiles had a hunch that it would be the biggest yet.

They stepped inside and were immediately grabbed by Danny, their tech guy, who pulled them to the side of the hustle and bustle and looked at Stiles with a smirk on his face.

“What?”

“You know all those posters you had in your bedroom when we were in high school?” Danny asked, waggling his brows, the bastard.

“Uh… yeah, it _was_ my bedroom?”

“Brace yourself.” Danny winked at the same exact moment Chris called him and Allison from the conference room.

Stiles glanced at Allison who shrugged, looking baffled, and they went to meet Chris.

A man was standing on the other side of the massive table with his back to them, reading through papers that looked like the script.

“There you guys are, come on.” Chris gestured at them, then pulled the door closed behind them.

Stiles wondered why they needed privacy but didn’t question it. By now he knew that on this set, Chris knew best.

Stiles put his mug on the table by his usual spot, somewhere in the middle of the left side of the table from the door.

Allison followed suit. She liked to sit closer to her dad at the end of the table to Stiles’s left, furthest away from the door.

Chris smiled slightly and looked at them as he gestured at the man. “Guys, I’d like you to meet my old friend—” The guy turned, and Stiles almost swallowed his tongue.

“Peter Hale,” he sputtered. And suddenly Danny’s warning made total and utter sense.

 

When Stiles was twelve, about a year after his mom passed away, he was still very much on his own most of the time outside of school. Well, someone could call it neglect, but Stiles never saw it that way.

He used to spend a lot of time watching TV and movies, because some of the best stories kept his ADHD in check like not many things could. Eventually, his dad got hold of himself, stopped drinking, and they both turned out well. There was no reason to dwell in the past, even though sometimes his dad still did, especially around the big anniversaries.

Anyway, at twelve, Stiles’s favorite show on TV was a sort of modern retelling of Norse mythology. In that show, the character Loki was played by Peter Hale.

Honestly, after growing up a handful of years and seeing interviews and such, Stiles had realized that Peter was pretty much channeling both the deity and himself. Peter Hale was a sarcastic asshole, and Stiles had been in love with the guy since he was twelve.

The first time he woke up in sticky sheets was after a dream about Peter Hale. His adolescent jerking off fantasies were half Peter Hale and half whatever female actress was big on that moment. The only constant was, that the more his sexuality evolved as he grew up, the more his fantasies revolved around men, and Peter Hale never, ever left his brain. It felt like he’d imprinted on the guy from that first time he saw him on screen, and that was it.

 

“I didn’t know you were friends with Peter Hale?” Allison looked at her dad pointedly, so pointedly that Chris seemed to realize there was some significance in her statement. Then she flicked her gaze to Stiles and back to Chris, and some sort of understanding dawned on Chris’s features.

“Oh, well, yes. Before I met your mother, Peter and I used to….” Chris blushed.

Oh God. Stiles wanted to sink through the floorboards. Of fucking course.

“We were friends. With occasional benefits,” Peter said. “There’s no reason to garnish it with half-truths, now is there, Christopher?”

Peter moved and held a hand out for Allison. “It’s nice to meet you, Allison. I’ve heard a lot about you over the years.”

“So you’re still friends?” she asked, with a tone that very clearly made the “with benefits” known. She shook his hand though, and smiled at him.

“Friends, yes,” Peter said, smirking at her. “Not the rest, recently.”

Chris groaned and sat in his place heavily. “And this is Stiles Stilinski, the best writer on my team. He’s been working on Gray with me.”

Then, the cool blue eyes turned Stiles’s way, and Peter Hale, the man of his dreams, looked at him from head to toe. With a small smirk, Peter walked to him and held out his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Stiles,” Peter purred, and Chris made a funny sound behind him.

“Uh… you too,” Stiles managed. His hand shook when he extended it to Peter.

As soon as their palms touched, Peter’s eyes widened and flashed wolf yellow. It felt like static electricity, but not quite. Static never traveled through his bones, it never spread through his body, and it certainly never, ever touched his heart and soul and brain in a way he’d only read in books so far.

“Oh fuck,” Stiles blurted out.

“Well this is interesting,” Peter said, his tone carefully controlled, but Stiles could somehow feel Peter’s sudden spike of fear.

“No way…,” Allison gasped.

“It seems like I’ve found my mate.” Peter extracted his hand from Stiles’s, then turned away. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment.” He marched to the back door of the conference room and exited hastily.

Stiles stood there like an idiot, feeling rejected, stunned, like he wanted to laugh and cry and rage. His infatuation made so much more sense now. For literally half his life, he’d been lusting after Peter Hale. It appeared that might’ve been for a reason.

He was stuck working with the one person who had captured his interest like nobody else before he’d ever even met him, and they were mates.

  
~*~  


** Peter **

Peter leaned to the wall of the barn, buried his face into his hands, and tried to force his heartbeat to slow down. _Mate._

He’d never thought he’d be in the twenty percent of wolves who found their mate. The actual odds of finding one’s mate were horrible, so even if you were blessed with one, it was extremely unlikely you ever met them. Some statistics said that less than five percent of all wolves ever bonded with their true mate, but there was no way to be sure.

Peter had always felt like romantic connections people around him made weren’t for him. He’d had fuck buddies, like Chris when he was still in high school, and others of various genders after Chris, up until a few months ago when his latest friend with benefits had moved to Spain.

His sister and alpha, Talia, was happily married to her beta husband Joe, and they were still disgustingly in love, twenty-five years from their bonding ceremony. His niece, Talia’s alpha heir, Laura, was married to a beta.

Where the Argents were an old family with roots in France where once upon a time, they’d hunted everything supernatural, Hales were just as old in the werewolf community. The laws forbidding hunting of werewolves had been made after the first World War. There was still prejudice and even violence out there, and with the current president, the anti-were movement was going strong.

Up until a couple of years ago, the name Argent had been strongly tied to the movement, right until Kate, Chris’s little sister, had been killed by someone who didn’t agree with her stance. Gerard, the patriarch of the family, had gotten quieter then, but in his interviews, the man still said he respected his daughter’s memory and her views, which meant Chris was right to poke at the bastard.

Technically, Chris had built Hunter’s Moon Studios from the wreck Gerard had left behind when he lost interest in the movie business in the early nineties. It was still funded greatly by Gerard, and that was worrying to Peter. It hadn’t been before, because fuck Gerard Argent with a hot pitchfork, but now, knowing that his _mate_ was here….

He swallowed hard and tried to stop himself from shifting. He couldn’t shift here, where Gerard had eyes and ears all over the place and there were no doubt anti-wolf people around.

The thing about being a werewolf that sucked the most was that because they were creatures of the moon, the closer to full moon they got, the stronger their emotions were. Peter shouldn’t have come here, not with three days from full moon.

Normally he could soldier through, took only one day and night off work—something that werewolves were granted automatically by law—and it was fine. He got snappier and more sarcastic in the last couple of days and that was normal. He’d never, ever felt like the shift was this close, though. At least not since he’d heard about Christopher having to marry that anti-wolf bitch, Victoria.

Sounds started to drift through the walls of the barn. The reading. _Shit._

The door opened and he fully expected it to be Christopher, but it wasn’t. It was Stiles.

“Peter? We’re taking the morning off to get settled, okay?” his mate— _his mate—_ said firmly.

Then the human just grabbed his arm gently and pulled him away from the wall.

“My trailer is that way,” Peter said, when he realized Stiles was leading him to the other side of their makeshift trailer park.

“Yes, and it’s where all the people are. You haven’t been introduced yet, nobody knows you’re here, really, and while the gossip will be all over the place—not about us, but about you being Gray—it’ll be fine. We just need to get behind closed doors right now.” Stiles kept tugging him along. “We’re going to my trailer.”

“What’s the rush?” Peter felt confused. Was his mate ashamed of him? The idea felt oddly unbearable. Hell, maybe Stiles was anti-wolf?

“Because your eyes keep flashing and I can see some fang when you speak. Also, there’s a reason I’m holding you by the arm and not the hand,” Stiles said dryly.

Peter looked at his hand and saw claws. Well fuck.

Quietly, he went with Stiles, surprised how little he felt like refusing. Maybe it was the fledgling mate bond that started to form as soon as fated mates met for the first time, or maybe Peter was still a bit shell-shocked.

Soon enough, they were at Stiles’s trailer, and Stiles all but pushed him inside, then stumbled in after him, and pulled the door closed before locking it.

Then he leaned his back to the closed door and breathed heavily for a few moments, his eyes wide and unseeing. Peter stood in the middle of the small space and looked at his mate, feeling an odd sort of wonder.

Stiles was… gorgeous. He had a messy brown hair, luminous eyes that were almost amber in the trailer’s harsh lights, and his body was… Peter felt a rush of want, and for the first time, he felt happy that his mate wasn’t a wolf, because his low-key arousal would’ve been obvious to Stiles, then.

“Okay, okay,” Stiles said and pushed away from the door. He gestured around the trailer. “This is home, please do not look too closely at anything, and find yourself a drink if you want and take a seat while I rush around, tidying up a little.” And then he did exactly that.

Peter went to the fridge, took out a bottle of water, then dodged Stiles who apologized on his way from the small living area to the bedroom, and went to sit on the booth style kitchen table.

The trailer wasn’t bad. Not as nice as Peter’s, but still okay. It showed that a twenty-something single man lived there alone, but it wasn’t like Peter’s apartment was perfect, either, and he had… many years on his mate.

“Stiles? How old are you?” Peter called when he heard Stiles do something in the small bathroom.

“Uh, I’m twenty-four.”

“I’m—”

“You’re going to say you’re thirty-nine, but you’re turning forty-one in two months or so,” Stiles cut him off.

Peter’s eyes widened. That was not information many people had. “How do you…?”

Stiles appeared, went to get himself a soda, and then came to sit across from Peter. He looked sheepish. “So, here’s the thing. I’m somewhat of a super fan of yours.”

Peter felt a brief moment of dread. His brain even considered the fact that maybe the mate thing wasn’t real but some twisted trick. But then he took in a deep breath and the scent of Stiles’s embarrassment came through so strongly, it couldn’t be fake.

“Okay?”

“I’ve been a fan of yours half of my life. Literally, Peter. I had your posters on my walls as a teenager. It’s….” Stiles took a sip of his soda, then ran his fingers through his hair and muttered, “This is so fucking surreal.”

Peter couldn’t help but to smile. “Yet here we are. So, Loki did it for you, then?”

Stiles let his head thunk back against the wall behind him and groaned. “Did he ever. In fact….” Stiles got out of his seat and glanced at Peter. “Look, I’m going to do this once. Because it was always going to be the reaction to meeting you, let alone you know, being your mate. I won’t do it ever again.”

Peter nodded and looked at Stiles, feeling puzzled. At least until Stiles took two steps into the biggest open area of the trailer and started to jump around like a lunatic.

It was some version of a quiet, joyful pee-pee dance, and it made Peter laugh in delight. His mate was such an idiot. Lovely, gorgeous, passionate fucking idiot and Peter couldn’t wait to fall in love with him.

 

They spent the morning by getting to know each other a bit more. Peter found himself laughing at Stiles whenever he knew something about Peter only a self-proclaimed fanboy would. Stiles seemed to be very pro-wolf, understood surprisingly lot about werewolf culture, and that’s where the serious discussion started.

“Your sister isn’t going to like this,” Stiles stated, gesturing between them while they were having lunch together. Allison had sheepishly knocked on the door around lunchtime and given them a bag of food.

“No, she won’t. So if you don’t mind, I would like to keep this a secret for a while.”

Stiles looked at him, read his expression carefully, and then nodded. “Okay.”

Peter felt surprised. “Wait, no objections?”

“No. I mean, your family is very traditional and having a human mate would be… interesting.”

“Right. It’ll be difficult.”

“And you need to figure out if you want to risk your relationship with your pack over a human,” Stiles said, as if it was a given.

Peter sat there in Stiles’s little booth and realized there was no way he’d give up this man. There was something about Stiles that felt almost alpha-like. He seemed to really know what his priorities were, and he thought about things from many point of views and he did it quickly.

Peter felt oddly proud. His mate was intelligent, witty, and quite sarcastic, based on their conversations so far.

A knock sounded from the door by the time they were done with the lunch.

Stiles went to open it, and Chris stepped inside.

“Hey,” Stiles greeted him.

Peter got up and gestured to the living area with a couch and an armchair in the corner. “Why don’t we settle there?”

“So….” Chris sighed, once they were all sitting comfortably. “Here’s the situation.”

Stiles reached over and took Peter’s hand, which made Peter smile.

“If this comes out, that you’re mates, that’s going to be all over the media and that’s going to be everything anyone will talk about,” Chris said slowly, measuring his words carefully.

Peter snorted. “Right. I can already see the headlines.”

“Mated on the set of Mated!” Stiles deadpanned, and Peter and Chris groaned.

“You two seem okay with the situation though?” Chris looked from Peter to Stiles and back.

“We’re dealing,” Stiles confirmed.

“We’re also fine with keeping it quiet. That’ll give us time to get to know each other, and frankly, we need it. Then there’s the work we’re here to do, and the fact that the time is limited.”

Chris nodded seriously and glanced at Stiles. Then he looked at Peter and seemed to make a decision. “Yes, if it was any other season, any other situation, I wouldn’t mind the publicity. But Stiles and I have been building Gray for you, and it’s going to be such a big bang I’d rather not risk it.”

So it seemed Stiles didn’t know about this being the last season, and Chris wasn’t going to tell him yet. Peter frowned slightly, but schooled his expression when Stiles turned to him.

“I’m fine with secrecy, but I need to tell my dad. He’s the Sheriff of my home town, so he’s trustworthy.”

“Of course you can tell him. I, obviously, won’t tell Talia or anyone else in the pack, before we agree that it’s time.”

“Sounds like a plan, then,” Chris said, got to his feet, and moved to the door. Then he looked at them again. “I don’t mind what you two do here, but please don’t be too obvious. Everyone will notice if you’re sneaking around, so you can have a fling if you want. The papers will talk, the people here will too, your sister will hear about it, but it’s still not the same. Keep the mate bond a secret, anything else I’m fine with.”

Peter nodded. “We’ll see what pacing works for us.”

“Yeah, it’s literally been like four hours. I think we’re doing fine so far,” Stiles added, grinning.

Chris chuckled. “Yes, you’re being very discreet. Might want to tone that down when you come to the reading in half an hour.”

They watched Chris go, and only when they looked down did they realize that Peter’s hand was now quite high on Stiles’s thigh, and Stiles had been playing with his fingers.

“Well fuck,” Stiles said with feeling.

Peter had to agree.

  
~*~

 

**Stiles**

The set was buzzing with rumors by the evening. Some were saying they’d fallen in love at first sight and had been fucking in Peter’s trailer all morning. Others had laughed and said that there was no way Stiles would bag someone like Peter Hale.

Stiles agreed with the latter. If there wasn’t the whole fated mates thing, he doubted he’d have a chance. It didn’t mean he wasn’t grateful. The universe had really delivered after all the shit he’d been through in his life.

He didn’t even mind the need for secrecy much. But still, that evening when Peter went to read the scripts for the couple of episodes he got to see at that point, Stiles went to his own trailer to call his dad.

“Hey, son, everything okay?” Dad asked, sounding worried.

Stiles realized it might’ve been a while since he called. Damn it.

“Yeah, sorry to worry you, pops. How’s BH?”

“Same old same old, really. Re-election is coming up, so I’ve been kissing a lot of babies.” Dad chuckled.

“It’s not like they’d want anyone else as their sheriff, so you’re safe.”

“How about you, kiddo?”

“Uh, work’s been good. Really good.” Stiles fidgeted a little where he sat on his couch.

Dad hummed. “I sense there’s more to that?”

“I told you how Chris asked my help to write in that new character, right?” Stiles really hoped he had.

“Yeah, last time you called.” Dad’s tone was meaningful enough to make Stiles think back.

It had been at least a month since he’d called.

“I’m so sorry, Dad, really.” He could tell he’d try harder to stay in touch, but they’d both know it wasn’t quite true.

“It’s fine. I could call you sometimes too, you know. Leave a message if you’re working.”

“Let’s try?”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Stiles could hear the smile in Dad’s voice. It made him relax, until Dad asked, “So this new character?”

“Yeah, Gray. The actor arrived today. It’s Peter Hale.”

For a few seconds, Stiles thought the call had dropped, because it was so silent. Then his dad started to laugh his deepest belly laugh, and Stiles could picture the tears rolling down his cheeks.

Eventually, Dad calmed down and wheezed. “There’s still a poster of him in your old room!”

“I know,” Stiles said dryly. “It gets better.”

“How can it get better?”

“Turns out I’m his mate.”

Well that shut Dad up again. At least for a moment.

“You’re _whatnow_?”

“I’m his mate. You know he’s a wolf. He shook hands and even I could feel it, even though some people say humans sometimes can’t.”

“Son, are you sure it wasn’t just—”

“Meeting my childhood idol? Yes. Hundred percent. It’s…. I can feel the bond. It’s there.”

They talked about what it all meant for a moment, and then Dad asked if they’d be going public with it.

“Well that’s the thing. His sister, the alpha of his pack, won’t like it. Human mates aren’t a thing in his pack, there hasn’t been one in generations, apparently. So she’ll flip her lid.”

“She wouldn’t make an exception for fated mates?”

“We’re not sure, so we’ll be taking it one day at a time. If the word gets out that we’re dating, that’s fine. So you might see that on the papers, but we’re keeping the mate thing secret for now.”

“Okay. That sounds like a well thought out plan.” Dad sighed, and Stiles could hear his office chair creak. He must’ve been at work, then. “And this is okay with you? It’s not like you chose this.”

“Dad, there’s a reason I’ve been obsessed with him since I was a kid. I think it was partially the universe trying to nudge me along. If I had never seen him as Loki, I wouldn’t have gotten into writing. Following his career has brought me to where I am now, and if it involves him, I mean, who am I to question the universe?”

Dad chuckled. “I suppose so. Keep me posted, and stay in touch, okay?”

“Yeah. And if this gets out, on any level I mean, if they call you….”

“I know absolutely nothing about what my adult son is doing with his life, yes. I know. Take care, son.”

“Will do. Be careful at work, Pops.”

 

The longer Stiles and Peter worked together, honing Gray into a character Peter approved of, the more the rumors flew. They spent long evenings together, talking and getting to know each other while they worked. Chris was there sometimes with his executive decisions, but mostly he left them alone.

They met at the barn, worked in the conference room to fend off rumors just a little. It was sweet torture, though. Stiles had never been so drawn to another person before, and they often sat kitty corner with their feet touching under the table just to have physical contact.

That, in turn, reinforced the bond. They hadn’t even kissed, yet Stiles felt closer to Peter than he had any of the people he’d had sex with.

They sat at the conference room table, Peter reading the script and Stiles making notes on the edges of his copy.

“Sweetheart, are you going to Christopher’s gala in Helena on Saturday?” Peter looked at him, smiling slightly.

“Uh, yeah. He says I have to if I want better credits this season. I skipped last year.”

“My, my… I hope you have something lovely to wear,” Peter purred, looking at him with an assessing gaze.

“I have a medium price range three-piece suit I wore to a friend’s wedding last summer.” Stiles shrugged, trying to ignore the look.

Peter hummed thoughtfully, then went back to his reading.

Stiles was deep into his creative zone when Peter asked him something about his inseam and jacket size and other things, so he barely registered answering him.

Two days later, on the Friday before the party, there was a knock on his trailer door and a courier handed him a garment bag. There wasn’t a note attached, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know who it was from.

Inside was a suit of a brand even a pleb like Stiles knew to cost a few grand. It was perfectly his size, a three piece one, and there was practically everything he could need in the bag. He just hoped his shoes would go with the gray suit.

Luckily they did, especially after he’d gone to Heather at wardrobe and asked her help with shining them. She wanted to know if he had cufflinks, and he was proud to reply that did, indeed have a set of antique ones that had once belonged to his grandpa. They weren’t worth much more than sentimental value, given that they were from Poland before his grandparents had immigrated from poverty, but they were his and meaningful.

 

The cufflinks made the difference, Stiles decided.

He stood in the shadow of a tall plant in the lobby of the hotel where Chris’s gala was organized. The event was an excuse for the cast to let loose a bit and also for them to rub elbows with industry professionals who liked to travel there to poach people from Chris. Not that Chris minded, because there were always people who wanted to meet him and come to work for Hunter’s Moon Studios as well.

Someone giggled somewhere nearby, and when Stiles looked around, he saw Erica, one of the actresses of Mated, talking into her phone with a smile on her face. She had been trying to warm up Boyd, one of wardrobe guys, for ages now, and based on the tone of her voice she was finally getting there.

Chris popped out from around a corner, startling Stiles. “There you are, there’s someone who wants to talk to you,” he said, gesturing toward the bar where people were gathering slowly but surely for pre-dinner drinks.

“Oh, okay?” Stiles had no idea who it could be, but he was up to meeting anyone that would help Chris with the show.

“Let me guess, Peter got you clothes?” Chris asked under his breath as they started toward the bar.

“Oh yes.”

Chuckling, Chris nodded. “He has a good taste in that stuff.”

They got to the bar and Chris weaved through some people and stopped in front of a statuesque woman who smiled at them slightly.

“Stiles, this is Braeden, Braeden, this is Stiles.” Chris clapped Stiles on the shoulder and bowed out smoothly.

Holy hell, Braeden was one of the more known talent scouts in the industry, and talking to her, by her own request, could potentially mean Things for his career in the future.

“Nice to meet you, Stiles. I’ve been following your writing and I have to say, I’ve been looking to meet you.” She nodded toward the bar. “Why don’t you get a drink and we can go chat somewhere a bit quieter?”

“One for you, too?”

“Sure, whatever good Scotch they might have.” She seemed pleased that he’d asked, so he counted that as a win.

While he waited for the Scotch and his own beer, he tried to remember everything he knew about Braeden. She was ruthless, for one, and took nobody’s bullshit. She had ruined several people in her career for being creeps or just treating her clients badly. It was thought that even Gerard Argent was a little bit intimidated of her.

“There you go, sir,” the bartender said and placed the drinks in front of Stiles, shaking him from his musings.

“Thanks.” Stiles made eye contact and smiled, then dropped a fiver into the tip jar. The guy seemed surprised but nodded his thanks anyway. Stiles hated nothing more than people who didn’t tip or treated wait staff and other customer service people badly. The bar might’ve been open, and Chris would pay the staff working tonight well, but still, there were rules about _not_ tipping the bartender, so there.

When he got back to Braeden, she was looking at him thoughtfully, almost if she was measuring him somehow and liking what she saw.

“Let’s go around there, I think I saw some armchairs.” She gestured toward another room.

Stiles followed her quietly and only after she’d sat down did he give her the drink. Then he sat in his chair and leaned back, trying to stay relaxed.

“So, you wanted a chat with me?” he asked, his heart going hundred miles per hour.

“Yes, as I said, I’ve been following your career, starting from when you first got the gig with Chris. I’ve known him for years, and I know he doesn’t hire people he doesn’t believe in.”

“Yeah, I mean, at first I thought he hired me just because I was friends with Allison, but….” Stiles shrugged and took a sip of his beer.

“Definitely not. Besides, I saw the couple of articles you wrote while in college. They held a lot of promise,” she said, raising her drink to her lips.

Stiles almost inhaled his beer and blushed.  “You saw those? Oh wow. I think it’s you, the professors, and my dad who have read them.”

“Let’s say I have clients who are always looking for new blood. So I wanted to meet you, figure out if you’d be the kind of person Chris said you were.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. Now that I know you are, I can have your back if you ever need a job. Would you be willing to do a side gig when you’re not writing for Chris, if I have someone who needs your kind of talent?”

“Probably. I mean, Hunter’s Moon is my main employer but Chris has always said we can write for others on our spare time.”

“Good to know. I’ll keep you in mind, then. And if you ever need anything, let me know, alright?” Her smile was beautiful and now it reached her eyes, too. She was probably one of the most gorgeous women Stiles had ever seen.

“Evening, Braeden,” Peter purred from somewhere behind Stiles’s shoulder. How he’d managed to come around the corner without him noticing was a mystery. Damn wolves and their sneaky ways.

“Peter.” She nodded politely, then looked at the hand Peter placed on Stiles’s shoulder. Her expression shifted into something like “oh” and her eyes twinkled despite the fact that she wasn’t smiling. “Well, gentlemen, I have other people to talk to.”

She got to her feet as did Stiles and shook his hand.

“It was nice to meet you,” Stiles said genuinely. There was something about Braeden he liked immensely.

“Likewise. Please keep my offer in mind and call me if you need anything.”

With that, she nodded at Peter again, then glided away.

“She’s nice.” Stiles blinked at Peter’s eyes that flashed briefly.

“Yes,” Peter said curtly. Then he took in a breath and narrowed his eyes. “You find her attractive.”

“Well duh?” Stiles didn’t understand why that was a big deal. “Look at her?”

A low growl vibrated Peter’s chest, just loud enough for Stiles to hear.

Stiles’s jaw dropped. “Wait, are you _jealous_?”

“Come on,” Peter snapped, took his wrist, and tugged him toward a staircase, then up the stairs, and along a hallway off to where the rooms were.

“What…?”

And then Peter stopped by a room door, opened it with a key card, pulled Stiles inside, and closed the door behind them.

Suddenly Stiles’s back connected with the door and a grumbling, growling Peter boxed him in, and pressed his face to Stiles’s neck.

Yeah, Peter was, indeed, jealous.

“Hey, I’m your mate. _Yours,_ Peter. Nobody else can touch me, okay? And _I_ wouldn’t touch anyone else.” Peter murmured something against his skin. “What was that?”

“I can’t help the wolf instincts. I didn’t think it would be like this. It’s not at work. But I didn’t count on Braeden being here,” Peter spoke into the crook of his neck.

“Why her?” Stiles didn’t understand the connection. Heather from wardrobe flirted with him even when Peter was in the same room.

“She dated my nephew, Derek, for a while,” Peter said, finally stepping back and turned to face the room instead of Stiles.

“And?”

“I introduced them to each other.” Peter walked to the windows and looked out through the sheer curtains. “While she and I were on a date.”

_Ouch._

Stiles moved to Peter and wrapped himself around the man from behind. He kissed the nape of Peter’s neck and then nipped at the skin with his teeth.

“Well, gorgeous as she is, I’m more into men anyway, and from what I’ve read is that your nephew is happily engaged to someone called Kira. Besides, _mates_ , Peter.”

Gradually, Peter relaxed, then let his head drop forward until his forehead touched curtain covered glass.

“I’m sorry,” Peter murmured.

“I know.” Stiles looked at the view through the curtain. There was nothing on this side of the hotel but woods and no lighting to speak of. It was dark, so…. “How do you feel about a bit of exhibitionism, mate of mine?”

Peter went to turn, but Stiles held him back with a hand on the middle of his back. For two seconds, Peter tensed. Then he went almost pliant.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Open the curtain, then drop your pants.” Stiles smirked at the little not-completely-human whine escaping Peter.

Peter did as told quickly. Seeing the expensive dress pants fall around his ankles was one thing, but when the underwear followed suit, Stiles swallowed hard. He distracted himself by trying to figure out if the briefs were expensive as well. Probably, since there was a name on the waistband. Last time any of Stiles’s had had a name on his had been in kindergarten and it had been his own.

“Now what?” Peter asked when he was quiet too long.

“Now you get a choice. Do I jerk you off just like this, or do I eat you out and then fuck you against this window?”

So maybe this wasn’t something Stiles had actually planned, and maybe they hadn’t actually fucked yet. And just maybe they needed to still complete the mating bond by Peter doing the fucking and knotting and them both doing all the biting and stuff, but this was the first step? Besides, no way would all the other stuff happen in the middle of a work party in a hotel room. No thank you.

“W-we have time,” Peter stuttered, and when Stiles glanced at the front of him, his shirt was tented by his hard cock.

“Excellent. Now be a good mate and lean your forehead to the glass, then reach back to hold yourself open for me.”

 

Thirty minutes later, they emerged from the room. Stiles looked smug, Peter… well, a bit ruffled both mentally and physically. When Chris saw them, he laughed, then told them to behave on future events.

 

~*~  


 

**Peter**

Peter had a long weekend off work. He’d loved to spend it with his mate, but Stiles wasn’t as lucky with his schedule right then, and while completing the bond would’ve been Peter’s first pick, well, he also needed to come clean to his alpha.

That’s why he flew home to LA. He barely slept the first night and woke up much too early in the morning. He got his Lexus from the garage and drove the six hours to the pack lands, where his family had lived for generations. Incidentally, Hale pack territory was only fifty or so miles from where Stiles had grown up and where his father was the sheriff.

He hadn’t told Talia he was coming, so her expression when he parked the Lexus in front of the house was suspicious.

“Peter, what are you doing here?” she asked without preamble as he got out of his car.

“What, one can’t come to their family when they have a weekend off?” he asked, not bothering with his pack quite yet.

He walked closer but not to her, and she noticed.

“’One’ might, but you’re not ‘one,’ brother. What’s going on?” She crossed her arms where she stood on the porch, looking down at him figuratively as well as literally.

“I found my mate,” he said then, and for few too brief seconds his sister’s expression turned into pure joy for him. Her eyes glittered with happiness _for him_ , and he could remember when they were kids and each other’s best friends.

Then she schooled her expression and asked, “What’s the catch?”

He finally stepped closer and waited for her to come down the porch steps. He tilted his head to bare his throat, and she leaned in slightly. She noticed the lack of a bitemark, frowned, and then leaned closer to scent him.

He knew the exact moment when she figured out the truth. She tensed, and her skin never touched his like in the usual greeting. Instead of giving him her scent, her protection, her _love_ , she pulled back and her eyes flashed alpha red.

The thing was, for a werewolf, when you had a good alpha who cared about you, their touch, the scenting, would always feel like coming home. Peter couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt that on this property.

“A human.”

“Yes.”

“No human will enter my pack.”

Heart cracking in his chest, Peter said the only words that came to his mind right then. “But you didn’t mind Braeden when—”

“She wasn’t his _mate_ , Peter,” Talia hissed. “I knew they wouldn’t last, so she wasn’t a threat, and I was right, wasn’t I?”

Peter rubbed a hand over his face and nodded. “Yeah, yeah you certainly were.”

Her features had turned into stone, and she looked at him silently.

Every time he followed her into the woods, or teased her about a boyfriend, or held her newborn children in his arms—the third person to hold them after her and Joe, each and every time—flashed in his mind like a film reel.

“Alright,” he finally said. He took the step separating them and leaned to kiss her cheek, surprised to find it warm when everything else about her screamed ice.

Then he walked back to the car, with her looking after him. When he opened the driver’s side door, she made one aborted movement toward him.

“Peter, are you sure?” Her voice was Talia now, not alpha, and for a few seconds he saw his sister again instead of his alpha.

He could’ve asked her if she’d be ready to leave Joe for the pack. He could’ve reminded her she and Joe weren’t fated mates, and that she could never, ever understand what she was doing to him right then. Because there was only once choice for him, and that choice was a beautiful man sitting in a trailer in Montana, writing something and probably fiddling with his phone because he was worried about how Peter’s meeting with his alpha would go.

“If you ever change your mind about this, you know my number.” He entered the car and forced himself to drive away from his sister, because she’d stopped being his alpha the moment she didn’t scent mark him.

 

Peter made it back to his house, parked the car in the garage, and promptly fell apart in the driver’s seat. He hadn’t cried in years, but for what he had to do next, he wept like a child.

Once he was calm again, he concentrated on the pack bonds inside himself, and sent apologetic thoughts to his nieces and nephew, then took hold of the bond he had to his alpha and through her the whole pack and tore it away from himself.

He growl-whined at the feeling of being untethered and forced back the howl bubbling up from his chest. He could still be Laura, Derek, and Cora’s uncle without being their pack. He could still love them like he always had, but he couldn’t submit to his sister anymore.

It felt like his whole self was bleeding out, right until his phone rang, and he grasped it from the holder with shaking hands.

“Peter, what’s going on? I felt strange, are you okay?” Stiles asked as soon as he’d answered the call.

“I w-will be,” he managed to say. “Please t-talk to me? About a-anything?”

“Okay, so, you know that slippery bit by the path to the boulder set, right? Well turns out Isaac forgot about it, was trying to talk to the new French intern, and totally lost his footing and went sliding down the hill earlier. Erica says he screamed like a little kid, it was so awesome!”

Peter let out a wet little chuckle, and encouraged by it, Stiles launched into another story from the set.

“When are you coming home to me?” Stiles asked eventually.

“As soon as I can get a flight back.” It was an answer to more things than just his travel schedule, and he could hear Stiles sigh. “Hey, it’s okay. I love you, mate.”

“I love you too,” Stiles said. Then Peter could hear a knock, probably the door of Stiles’s trailer, and Stiles called out that he needed a minute more. Then he lowered his voice and told Peter, “When you’re home, we’re going to finish the bonding. Maybe not the bite, because we have two months left of filming and the marks would be hard to hide for long. But the other stuff, we’ll do that, and nobody can break us apart. It’s going to be so good, Peter. You’re going to fill me just right. You just wait.”

Peter groaned at the thought of knotting his mate. Stiles, on the other hand, said cheery bye, wished him safe travels, and ended the call.

Peter sat in his car with a hardon and the salt of dried tears on his cheeks. He still felt raw on the inside and knew there would be calls from Talia’s children he’d need to take any minute now, but he found himself smiling.

 

Peter thought that the further away from California he got, the worse he would feel. To his utter surprise, he actually felt better. While he sat on the plane, he tried to figure out why that might be. It wasn’t the mate bond, because they hadn’t completed it. Sure, Stiles had taken him quite masterfully at the party, but there needed to be the bite to form a full bond, the knotting just enhanced it, and they hadn’t done that either.

He wondered what it was that ever so slowly healed the frayed feeling inside him the closer to Montana he got. Peter had always been quite self-sufficient. He’d been the black sheep of the family all his life, and while every ounce of him that was pure wolf needed an alpha and a pack, he’d never quite felt at home with the Hale pack.

Their old emissary had once told his mother, the alpha before Talia, that in the olden days, Peter would’ve been the Left Hand of the alpha. That statement had probably been true, based on what Peter knew about those titled as Left Hands, but it had also colored his pack’s reactions to him.

Peter could be ruthless, he would’ve gladly killed for his pack, and he loved them all fiercely. It was the last bit that his parents never quite understood. It wasn’t that Peter had felt unloved growing up, but he hadn’t felt _as loved_ as his sister and brothers.

He walked out of the airport and was greeted by a studio car and a driver. He hadn’t even unpacked his bag, so he tossed it in the footwell as he sat in the back seat and greeted the driver.

The drive wasn’t long, so he didn’t even have time to zone out. Maybe he couldn’t have done that, not with the thoughts swirling in his head still. At least Derek had called him almost immediately after Stiles’s call.

They’d had their differences, but they still loved each other very much, and Derek  had told Peter that he wouldn’t take sides unless push came to shove with Talia. Not that Peter blamed him, in fact he’d expected it. The only person who would probably take his side and drift even further away from Talia would be Cora, his favorite niece. She was in some jungle or another doing research, and she’d texted him that there would be a video call once she got into Wi-Fi range once again.

Laura… well. She was enough like Talia that if Peter would hear from her other than the worried text she’d sent when she’d felt the pack bond break, he’d be amazed. Laura was going to be the next alpha, and she could be a traditionalist in many things. Peter fully expected that she’d be in this issue as well.

“Sir, do I drop you off at your trailer?” the driver asked, alerting Peter to the fact that they were at the ranch already.

Briefly, he wondered if he should go directly to Stiles’s trailer, but he wanted a shower first. “Yeah, thank you.”

The driver continued the way to the trailer park and soon enough, Peter was unlocking his trailer door and stepping inside. He must’ve been distracted, because he didn’t sense Stiles until he heard a soft snore from the bedroom.

Smiling, he toed off his shoes and went to his mate.

When Peter crawled onto the bed and wrapped himself around Stiles, the human stirred and blinked at him, then smiled beautifully.

Then the expression melted into frustration. “Shit! I wasn’t going to fall asleep!”

“It’s fine, honey. It’s late anyway.” Peter kissed Stiles’s forehead. “It’s good to be home, though. Let me take a shower and I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Okay,” Stiles murmured, pouting a little.

Peter would’ve invited him into the shower if there had been room, but there really wasn’t even in these higher end trailers. Besides, he was tired enough to just want his mate’s skin against his own and then sleep.

When he got back to the bedroom, Stiles had undressed completely and crawled under the covers. He was fast asleep, and Peter curled up around him again.

Just before he fell asleep he realized he’d meant when he’d said it was good to be home. Except this place wasn’t home, _Stiles_ was.

 

In the morning, they woke up when Stiles’s alarm blared to life.

“Ungh….”

“You have work?” Peter felt halfway awake and very confused. It was the weekend still, right?

“No, but Chris wants to see us as soon as we can get up and have eaten. I don’t know what he’s up to, but I told him how things went with Talia yesterday, so that might be it,” Stiles spoke slowly, in his trying-to-wake-up voice Peter knew well by now.

“Oh, alright.” Christopher had always been more cognizant of wolf pack dynamics than most humans. The fact that the knowledge came from his family’s roots of being hunters hadn’t bothered Peter after the beginning. He wondered what Chris wanted.

“Hey, calm down,” Stiles said suddenly, and Peter hadn’t even realized he was worrying enough for it to be visible. “We’re fine. You’re fine. We can be a pack of two and we’ll have more people to call family anyway. We have my dad who will love you, and Ally and Chris, and Cora and Derek, right?”

That was when it hit Peter that Stiles knew him better than anyone. Maybe he’d been a fanboy, but you didn’t get to this point in a relationship, know someone this well, if there wasn’t genuine caring and love in the equation.

He buried himself against Stiles’s chest and breathed through the emotions coursing through him. “I love you,” he murmured.

“Look at me, please?” Stiles’s tone was firm, and Peter responded to it immediately. He lifted his head, and Stiles smiled slightly. “There you are. You’re a good man, Peter Hale. You’re a talented, shrewd, sarcastic asshole, and you’re all mine. I love you too.” Then he kissed Peter gently, and Peter definitely didn’t cry a little.

  
~*~  


**Stiles**

Stiles and Peter headed to the barn and Chris’s office.

“No, you go ahead. You’ll just stare at my ass if I go first,” Stiles told Peter just as they got to the hayloft stairs.

Danny was coming down them, and heard Stiles, so he guffawed loudly, then fist bumped him to Peter’s amusement. Peter was still shaking his head when they got to Chris’s door.

“Come on in!”

Chris was sitting behind his large desk and smiled at them when they took their seats on the visitor’s chairs.

“So, what’s up?” Stiles asked immediately, still a bit worried about Peter’s mental state. He wanted to get today over, and frankly he needed time with his mate, and not only because Peter was a wolf with slightly different instincts. Stiles wanted the comfort of having him close, too.

“Stiles told me briefly that your meeting with Talia didn’t go well,” Christ started, looking at Peter. “I’m so sorry it went like that.”

“Me too. I… well, I actually feel much better than I thought I would. I don’t know why. Severing the pack bond to my alpha should’ve been much worse, I think,” Peter mused, frowning.

“Ah, I thought that might be the case, actually,” Chris said, looking from Peter to Stiles. “I might know why that is.”

“Oh?” Stiles was glad Peter wasn’t feeling as bad as he thought he might, but he’d long ago learned that when it came to anything that didn’t feel “right” it could be really, really bad.

“Please do enlighten us, Christopher,” Peter sounded sarcastic, which made Stiles reach over and grab his wrist.

He squeezed slightly, and Peter relaxed.

“That right there.” Chris nodded toward their hands. “I think Stiles is a human alpha.”

“I’m a _whatnow_?”

Peter froze and slowly turned his head to look at Stiles as if assessing him. Then he slowly smiled.

“That’s the reason,” Peter said, his smile widening. “I didn’t feel abandoned because I had an alpha waiting for me.”

“Yes. I’ve realized that Stiles has all the good alpha qualities that most wolf alphas have. He takes care of people, makes sure they’re happy and healthy, and always thinks of the safety of those that are his.”

“Hey, I’m right here!” Stiles snapped, although he couldn’t hide his blush. He was bad with compliments, but on some level he knew Chris’s assessment was pretty spot on.

“Yes, you are. And now you have a pack to tend to. So just to make sure everything runs smoothly, I think you two should complete your mating bond as soon as you want to.”

Stiles’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“But what about the publicity?” Peter looked skeptical.

“Well, here’s the deal,” Chris began and looked at Stiles. “This is going to be the last season of Mated.”

“What?” Stiles felt a cold panic and glanced at Peter who looked… calm. It seemed that he’d known about this before now. “Why?”

“Because my father is an asshole and tries to end us. Instead of letting him figure out a way to take the studio away from me, I’m going to end the show on my own terms, make sure we make an impact, and then take all the money I’ve made in my own name and start a new studio.” Chris looked fierce and pissed off, and hotter than ever, and it didn’t matter because Stiles had his mate right there with him.

“Alright,” Stiles said. “Wait a minute. _That’s_ why you hired Peter! An actual wolf to play the most important character of the season!”

Peter smirked and Chris looked smug as well. “Yes.”

“And now that we’re going out with a bang, it doesn’t matter if the press gets a whiff of us being mates, because even if people remember that, we’ll also have a fucking spectacular way to end the show which will be the main thing that will stick to people,” Stiles almost crowed in satisfaction.

“Wait, did you guys write something this weekend?” Peter looked from Stiles to Chris and back. “What is it?”

“You’ll see soon enough,” Chris promised. “Now, since it’s Sunday, you two can get lost. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Aye aye, captain,” Stiles mock saluted him and they left Chris to work.

 

They spent the afternoon just hanging out and letting the anticipation build. Stiles made sure Peter was well fed and comfortable, and gave him enough cuddles and scenting to hopefully last him a while.

When he pressed his face where the mating bite would go, Peter shivered in his arms.

“How does it feel when I do that?” Stiles asked quietly, running his hand through Peter’s hair.

“Home. It feels like home,” Peter murmured. “Like a good alpha should feel.”

“I’m glad.” He didn’t have to guess how it was for Peter. They might not have had more than a month together, but Stiles could see and sense how relaxed Peter was, how at ease. The sarcastic outer shell was gone around him, and he could see the ease with Peter carried himself. It was miles from the tense, tightly pulled together man that had left to meet with his sister.

They cooked dinner in Peter’s trailer, just because they had ingredients and didn’t really want to leave their cocoon. After they’d eaten, they curled up on the bed with Stiles’s laptop and watched couple of episodes of The Haunting of Hill House.

“I really love the layered writing in this one,” Peter said when the second episode was ending.

“Yeah. The other one I love is 9-1-1. Like they deliver like crazy unlike some shows. I hate the shit where they write around something, tease the audience, and then forget all about it. Or those shows where they kill off secondary characters and never mention them again. Ugh. And then there’s queerbaiting and that’s just not gonna happen on my watch.”

Peter looked at him fondly. “So you’re saying Gray is going to get a boyfriend?”

“If Chris wants, there’s always some characters we can hook him up with. That’s piss Gerard off even more.” Stiles shrugged as he put the laptop away on the bedside table.

“True. Isn’t Jordan’s character gay and single?” Peter opened his arms and Stiles moved to straddle him.

“Yeah, and he’s probably suitably recovered from losing the previous boyfriend. That’s a good idea.” Stiles’s mind started to whir with possibilities.

Peter chuckled. “Hey, concentrate on me, not my character? You went all blank and stared right through me just now.”

“Oops. Sorry!” Stiles pecked his lips in apology.

“So, do you want to bond with me, mate of mine?” Peter purred at him, and Stiles let out a contented sigh.

“Yes, please.”

“Like this, or while we’re making love?” Peter squeezed at his butt through his sleep shorts.

Stiles thought about the logistics. “I think like this. I’ll bite you first, because you’ll heal. Then you can bite me, we take care of the wound, and then you can take care of your alpha in _all_ the ways.”

Peter growled and his eyes flashed yellow. Stiles loved it how there was a split second where Peter’s blue eyes looked green as the yellow faded away again.

“Where?” Stiles asked, touching Peter’s neck lovingly with his fingers.

“Right here.” Peter pointed to the correct spot.

Stiles licked his skin, making him shiver. “Did you know that once upon a time they rubbed wolfsbane powder into the mating bite to make sure it would scar? But since I’m human, it will scar anyway, because your body will think that I’m harmful?”

Peter tensed and Stiles lifted his head to look into his eyes. “Don’t ever say that again,” Peter’s tone was heartbreaking.

“Say what?”

“You’re not and never will be anything but the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Oh, that. Don’t worry, I don’t actually think like that. It’s just, you know, wolf biology versus human. I love you. Can I bite you now?”

Peter gave him a kiss and then tilted his head to bare his throat again.

Stiles knew that being a human, he wouldn’t feel much different, but for Peter it would be a whole other ballgame.

Before he could overthink it, he licked his lips, sealed his mouth on the correct spot, and started to suck up a hickey that would be gone soon. Then, before Peter could do anything but moan long and loud, he steeled himself and bit into the meat of Peter’s shoulder.

It felt so weird to do it, to actually bite with intention to break skin and draw blood, but somehow he managed to do it. Peter’s broken whine only spurred him on when he felt it vibrating in his chest a second before he heard it.

Then his mouth filled with the coppery taste of blood and Stiles instinctively swallowed. He knew he was supposed to, it was part of the process, but he still coughed as he pulled his head back.

Peter wasn’t looking at him.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Stiles cupped his cheek and felt resistance when he tried to turn Peter’s head to see his face.

“N-nothing, it’s just….”

And then Stiles paid closer attention and saw the way Peter’s ear was slightly pointed. “Oh honey, look at me, it’s okay.” He lifted his free hand and touched the ear gently.

Peter tensed for a second, then turned his head as if not believing Stiles was taking it so well.

“It’s okay?” Peter asked, and the vulnerability in his bright yellow eyes was heartbreaking.

“You’re my mate and it’s not like I don’t know you’re a wolf. I saw more than this the day we first met, you just didn’t realize because you were so upset. You’re a wolf, but you’re my wolf, okay? I love you, Peter Hale, and a little wolfing out won’t change that now nor will it ever in the future.”

Peter looked at him as if he was some sort of a miracle. Then he pulled Stiles into a kiss that had more fangs than strictly safe for a human, but Stiles didn’t care.

Peter growled at the taste of his own blood, and his eyes were still yellow when he wrenched his mouth from Stiles. “I got to….”

“Yeah, go ahead.  Just remember, puny human here.” Stiles grinned and tilted his head just so, knowing how it looked to a werewolf. He definitely never ever practiced the move in front of a mirror when he was sixteen, no sir.

Peter let out an honest to God growl, pulled Stiles closer, and fisted his hair. Then he made a rumbling little sound of anticipation or something, and his mouth latched onto Stiles’s skin.

Thankfully, Peter didn’t seem to believe in foreplay when biting, because he immediately clamped his teeth on Stiles and swiftly bit through.

The pain was like nothing Stiles had ever felt before. It felt like fire against his skin, and he hissed loudly. When Peter pulled away, he had full blown fangs and blood on his lips. Stiles would’ve appreciated the look if he hadn’t felt just a little bit faint.

“Here, let me go get the first aid kit,” Peter said and moved him to the side.

Stiles felt most of his shoulder and neck throb around the bite, but it was probably an illusion. Peter was back quickly, and cleaned and dressed the wound carefully.

“It’s okay, can you give me two Tylenol though?”

“Sure,” Peter said, smiling and pecked him on the lips before he went to put the first aid kit back.

He brought Stiles a glass of water and the pills, then cuddled with on the bed.

“Wait, yours healed fast enough that it didn’t really bleed?” Stiles asked and craned his neck to see Peter’s, then promptly hissed again when his own skin pulled. “Never mind. Damned wolves….”

They were quiet for a moment, and then Stiles felt something, almost like a nudge on the inside. Not in his head, but as if something poked at his… self? He blinked, then instinctively poked back.

Peter chuckled. “Seems like the bond is stronger.”

“Oh wow. That’s weird. Wanna see if we can make it even stronger than that?” He waggled his eyebrows at Peter who smirked.

“Are you asking me to knot you, sweetheart?”

Stiles hummed in a mock-thoughtful way. “I think I could go for that, yeah,” he said in a flippant tone, then shrieked and laughed when Peter grabbed and flipped him.

“Just for that, I won’t let you come,” Peter murmured against his lips as soon as he was settled between Stiles’s legs.

Stiles smirked. “As if you would do that to your alpha.”

Peter shivered, and Stiles realized the kind of power he had over his wolf. Right then and there, he vowed to never abuse that power.

Peter grabbed the lube and made quick work of stretching Stiles. He made sure he could get four fingers into Stiles before he deemed him even remotely ready.

“How big is your knot, exactly?” Stiles panted, when Peter slathered his cock with about a gallon of lube.

Peter ducked his head. “Uh, it’s not massive, but I haven’t actually….”

“Wait, you haven’t knotted anyone before?” Stiles looked at him, confused.

“Well, it’s a lot for a casual partner to take, literally and figuratively, and since I haven’t dated anyone for very long….” Peter seemed awkward suddenly.

“Okay, well, if this is your first time, we’re gonna do this right,” Stiles announced, then awkwardly managed his limbs, trying not to kick Peter, and turned onto his stomach.

“What?” Peter blinked at him.

“You’re a wolf, Peter. Don’t you think this is the way you should take your mate for the first time?” And then he very expertly presented himself, head down and ass up. Yes, yes, he did practice that move too are you happy now?

Peter let out a growl again, something Stiles was starting to enjoy quite a bit as it showed Peter wasn’t totally in control and yet felt safe enough around Stiles to let his wolf show.

“What are you waiting for? I was promised a knotting—oof!”

  
~*~  


**Peter**

Somehow, they’d managed to wait for over a month before getting to this point. Sure, Stiles had fucked him once, but this was more important bond-wise, and Peter’s whole being vibrated with all sorts of emotions when he finally had his fingers in Stiles.

And then the brat challenged him and well. Peter bottomed out in one harsh push that made Stiles slide up the bed a little.

“Like this?” Peter purred, but stayed still until his mate could gather his faculties.

“Get. On. With it,” Stiles grunted, and well, what was Peter to do other than fuck his mate and alpha like he deserved to be fucked.

Now, Peter had had a lot of sex in his time, but this was something else. To begin with, there were the emotions and the love and the mating bond and all that stuff, yes. The fact that he adored Stiles and responded to him as alpha now, were one thing. But when Stiles came, and Peter felt his knot start to swell, it triggered something more in his wolf brain.

Peter pulled Stiles up, never minding the noodle-like quality of his mate’s post-orgasmic body, and continued to thrust into him. When his knot caught a little, he pulled Stiles down while jerking his hips up. As soon as his knot popped inside Stiles, Peter came, and came, and kept coming.

He forced himself not to mouth at the bandaged area on Stiles’s neck, and instead pressed his forehead against the back of Stiles’s head, letting the satisfied growl vibrate his chest and travel through Stiles. Their bond felt like a rubber band snapping into place, and Peter had never, ever felt happiness like this before.

He began to grind his hips against Stiles’s ass to rub his mate’s prostate with his sizable knot. Stiles’s cock hadn’t had time to go soft and he started to get harder again.

“There you go,” Peter purred. “Can you come again, sweetheart?”

Stiles, now a bit more conscious, nodded. “Y-yeah, I think so. Oh God, Peter, your knot….”

Peter chuckled, which must’ve made his knot move just so, because Stiles whined high and loud. Peter wrapped his fingers around Stiles’s cock and jerked him off rapidly until he felt Stiles clench just a little. That’s when he let go and ground his hips with purpose.

“Come on, Stiles, come on my knot.” He pressed his fingers gently against the bandaged bite mark, and Stiles went off like fireworks.

Having his mate twitch and jerk on his knot was just painful enough to draw Peter’s second orgasm a bit closer. Why that did it for him, he wasn’t sure, but he groaned as he wrapped his arms around Stiles to keep him upright.

“S-so good for your alpha,” Stiles slurred, and that was it, Peter was coming again and this time it wiped him out.

He managed to make them flop to their sides, still joined together, and held onto his mate, his alpha, his Stiles.

 

 

** Three months later **

The shooting was done, the after party was done, they goodbyes had been said—for now. There had been endless seeming interviews where Peter and the rest of the cast had talked about the season’s huge revelations and how the show had ended. Of course Peter had also talked about finding his own mate, and there had been some conservative interviewers who had tried to get nasty, but luckily they hadn’t had the intelligence to verbally spar with someone like Peter so that was fine.

Now though, it was almost September, and Peter drove his Lexus up the coast once more.

He glanced to the passenger seat where Stiles had already fallen asleep. The work situation stressed Stiles out, but they’d agreed to take it slow until next year. Neither of them really needed the money and the potential stress of finding jobs that were on opposite sides of the country might be too harsh on their still relatively new bond.

Peter’s phone lit up in the holder, and he frowned. He poked at Stiles’s thigh, making his mate snort and jerk awake.

“W-huh?”

“Braeden’s calling me, thought I’d give you a heads up,” Peter said, then put the phone on speaker. “Braeden, to what do we owe this pleasure?”

“Hello Peter, and Stiles. Are you in a car?” she asked, probably hearing the truck that just passed them.

“Yeah, we’re going up the coast to meet family. What’s up?” Peter reached for Stiles’s hand while keeping his eyes on the road.

“I might have a job for you. _Both_ of you.”

“Wait, like same place?” Stiles perked up.

“Yes. It’s still a huge secret, but there’s a heist movie a very well known director wants to do in Hawaii, and there’s a tentative script. He needs a lead and a writer. I told him I have both.”

“A heist movie? Oh my God.” Stiles sounded awed. “Really?” It was a dream of his, writing a heist script, because he’d loved that kind of films as a kid.

“Alright. Do you want to send us the details and we’ll take a look?” Peter asked, squeezing Stiles’s fingers.

“Absolutely, I’ll send the script to both of your emails. There’s no rush, but if you’d take a look and let me know if you’re interested within the next few weeks, that would be great. The shooting is set to start next year, if everything goes to plan. Probably around late spring, early summer, I would think.”

“Excellent. We’ll read the script and Stiles will figure out if it’s something he wants to fix, and we’ll take it from there. Talk to you later.”

“Bye, Braeden!”

“Drive safely, talk to you later.”

As soon as the call disconnected, Stiles squealed hard enough to hurt Peter’s ears. “Holy shit, Peter!”

“Yeah, seems like the rumors might be true.” Chris had given them a heads up about this project last week. The director really was well known, and this could be massive.

Stiles started to babble about the script and what it might be, and how awesome would it be to live in Hawaii for the summer and Peter, well, Peter drove and made suitable sounds in between Stiles’s ramble, and felt like the luckiest man on earth.

 

The house was nothing special on the outside, but Peter knew that it held everything dear to Stiles’s family in the inside.

There were memories of his mother there, which was why his father hadn’t wanted to move out and kept the place in as good a shape as he had time and energy for. The money for the upkeep came from both the sheriff and Stiles these days, though.

“So, this is where I grew up,” Stiles said as they got out of the car.

The cruiser in the driveway signaled that the sheriff was home. Peter liked that Stiles didn’t look embarrassed, but knew that if something was important and dear to him, it would also be that for Peter. He liked the fact that Stiles hadn’t called the place “home” even more. They’d established that it didn’t matter where they were, they were home with each other. Stiles called it a “portable territory” for their tiny pack.

The door opened before Peter could say anything, and John Stilinski stepped onto the porch.

“I know it needs new paint, stop staring at the house,” he called to them.

Stiles laughed and jogged to his father, embracing the man tightly. “Hey, Daddio,” he murmured, loud enough for wolf ears. “I missed you so much.”

“Missed you too, kiddo.”

Peter walked closer and smiled as he could feel Stiles’s contentment roll through their bond.

“Dad, this is Peter Hale, my mate and my beta,” Stiles said. He’d explained the human alpha thing to his father a while ago, and John seemed to take it in stride. “Peter, this is my dad, Sheriff John Stilinski.”

Peter held his hand to his mate’s father. “It’s good to meet you, Sheriff.”

John shook his hand, then pulled him closer and gave him a man-hug. “Good to meet you too, Peter. Please do call me John, though. It feels like I’ve known you for ages.”

“Oh?” Peter asked, thumping John on the back like he was expected to. “How is that?”

“Well, this one has been a fan of yours for as long as I can remember. In fact, if I grab Stiles, you have a head start to his room upstairs before he has time to sanitize it. It’s embarrassing how many posters of you there still are on his walls, so I’d take the chance if you want any ammunition for future teasing,” John spoke evenly, then really grabbed his son by the arm, and let Peter through into the house.

“Oh my God, Dad!” Stiles whined.

Peter did the only thing any good beta and mate would do in that situation. He laughed in wicked, gleeful delight and ran up the stairs.

“Second door on the right!” John called after him.

 

**The End**


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